This is our last edition of Alberta Dugout Digest, our weekly analysis of baseball players from the province who are crushing it at post-secondary institutions south of the border.

With regular season play mostly wrapped up and championship tournaments in full swing, we are preparing for the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) season to start up at the end of the month while we keep an eye on postseason action in the United States.

Weather-tested and tough – that’s what makes Alberta baseball players such attractive recruits south of the border. And no American school added more of them for the 2019 season than the Colby Community College Trojans.

Nearly half of the Trojans’ 30-man roster includes players who are originally from Alberta or those who trained here.

It’s a team where Okotoks Dawgs and Vauxhall Jets quickly shed their rivalries, and an Edmonton Prospect slugger needs to have a short memory about losing in the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) playoffs to the Medicine Hat Mavericks last summer.

After putting in a strong campaign for the Colby Community College Trojans this year, Matt Coutney is doing everything he can to keep the Edmonton Prospects in the playoff hunt in 2018.

The Wetaskiwin-born infielder, who played for Canada’s Junior National Team last year, played 52 games for the Trojans, recording 12 home runs, 54 RBI, 60 runs and a .431 batting average in his freshman season. He also won a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Gold Glove for his excellent defensive play and the third baseman was named Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) Freshman of the Year.

The 6-foot-1, left-handed hitter was kind enough to answer some questions for us. See what he had to say for our ongoing “1 Thru 9” series.